Improvement in apparatus for arranging and distributing screw-blanks



llNirEn E. A. HARVEY, or NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN APPARATUS FOR ARRANGING AND DISTRIBUTVING SCREW-BLANKS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 42,477, dated April 26, 1864.

To all whoml it may concern:

Be it known that I, H. A. HARVEY, of the city, county, and State o f New York, have invented certain new and useful apparatus or machinery for arranging screw-blanks, pins, and similar] articles and forwarding them to machines for performing various operations on such blanks; and I declare that the following, taken in connection with the drawings, is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

In the drawings, Figure l is a plan or top view of au apparatus constructed according to the principles of my invention. Fig. 2 is also a plan of those parts below the pan and brushes, these being removed. Fig. 3 is an elevation of the apparatus, and Fig. 4 is a Y vertical section taken on the line m of Fig. 2.

The leading distinguishing characteristic of this invention is that it possesses the capacity of arranging blanks in rows and supplying them to a series of machines which perform various operations on blanks, whereby a single arranging apparatus serves for a large number of machines, thus accomplishing an important economy in factories where large numbers of machines are used for making screws, pins, Ste.

The apparatus herein described, which is one form embodying my invention, may be divided into three parts: first, the apparatus for arranging the screw-blanks iu rowswith their heads uppermost; second, the apparatus for distributing the blanks to way or a series of ways; and, third, a series or number of ways for forwarding blanks to one or a number of machines for operating upon the blanks.

And the rst part of my invention is to be found in the combination of a pan constructed and provided with slots substantially such as as hereinafter specified, with rotating elastic sweeps having a mode of operation as hereinafter described, the whole constituting an arranging apparatus.

And the second part of my invention consists in combining a pan and sweeps, acting.

under a mode of operation as hereinafter specified, with a contrivance which receives blanks from the rows and distributes them to an inclined way or a series of such ways.

And the third part of my invention consists in combining an apparatus capableof receiving screw-blanks from a row or rows, with a series of inclined ways in such manner that screws may be delivered or distributed into all or any of such ways from a row or rows.

And the fourth part of my invention consists in combining with proper machinery for arranging screws in rows a receiving and distributing apparatus operatin g substantially as specified, and a series of inclined ways, whereby 011e and the same arranging machinery may be used to arrange blanks which are to be forwarded by the ways to several screwmachines.

The pan and sweeps constitute the arranging apparatus, and the receiving and distributing contrivance combines the arranging apparatus with a series of ways which constitute the forwarding contrivance.

In the drawings, a frame is shown at a a a, which sustains all parts of the machine, and on top of the frame is supported a pan, b b, circular in its form, and provided with a fiange or rim, c o, which is the side of the pan.

The bottom of the pan has in it slots d d wide enough to receive the body of a screwblank, and chamfered on the upper side, so as to containa part of the head thereof, :and from the points e e in these slots toward the center of the pan the chamfers are widened and deepened, so that the whole of a screw-blank head can lie in the chamfer below the upper surface of the bottom of the pan.

About the center of the pan the bottom rises, as at f j', and below this rising part the bottom forms a cylindrical cavity, and the slots extend into this cavity, so that a screw-blank can be pushed along a slot from the outside of the pan under the rising part of the bottom until it drops out.

The distinguishing characteristics of the pan are, therefore, first, that it is so conl structed as to support a mass of blanks, preventing their escape if unarranged either at the periphery or the center; second,I that its bottom is provided with slots, in which arranged blanks hang by their heads and move toward the point of delivery, and between which blanks may be rolled over, so as finally to be caught in the slots.

Up through the center of the pan rises a shaft, h, properly supported, having upon it a. bevel-wheel, h', which is driven by a bevelpinion, h2, carried by a shaft, h3, which may be revolved in any convenient manner.

Attached tothe top of this shaft are a set therefor, as at 7c It', in such wise that the bristles sweep over the bottom of the pau.

These sweeps must be so formed that their revolution tends to sweep blanks inward from the periphery of the pan toward the center. If the riseffwere removed, blanks would roll out through the center of the pan. Its office therefore is to prevent this, and provided it does so its sha-pe is immaterial.

The chamfer of the slots is increased toward the center of the pan so that blanks lying in the pan may roll freely over those already hung by their heads in that part of the slots where the chamfer is increased, and the slots cl d may be made without the enlargement of the lchamfer described, but they must extend from the periphery of the pan into the vcylindrical cavity and be so formed as to support screw-blanks by their heads and permit them to traverse into the cavity.

r rlhe operation of this part ofthe apparatus is follows when motion is given to the sweeps: Screw-blanks are to be thrown by hand or otherwise into the pan, and as the sweeps revolve they roll them over until theyA deposit themselves in the slots. Such blanks as do not enter are swept up on the riseff and roll down again into the lower part of the pan.

` rl`hose blanks which do enter the slots arrange themselves and are hung by their heads, which rise a little above the bottom, and the sweeps, acting on the heads, force the blanks toward the center, where they pass under the rise f f and finally drop out, and would, if this were the whole eontrivance, lose their arrangement.

The essentials in the mode of operation of the sweeps are, first, that they roll the blanks over the bottom ofthe pan, so that they may be caught by the slots; second, that they cause the blanks that are caught in the slots to progress to the point of delivery.

In order` to prevent the droppin g out of the blanks, except at the proper time, I locate in the cylinder a receiving and distributing apparatus, which consists of a slotted piece, l, which is attached to a disk, l', mounted on a cannon-shaft, L2. The slot in this piece is of such width as to receive blanks, and so constructed as to hold them hung by their heads, and has secured to it another disk, t4, which is of the same diameter as the cylindrical cav iiiy, or nearly so. The cannonshaft has secured upon it a ratchet-wheel, t3, which may be revolved with an intermittent motion by means'of an impelling-pawl, m, mounted on a slide, m', and held in contact with the ratchl twheel by a spring, m2, which is secured to a holding pawl or dog, ma. The slide moves in proper bearings, and has projecting from its lower side a pin, m4, which is embraced by a cam-groove, a, formed in a cam, n', mounted on a shaft, n2, which carries a cog-wheel, n3, that is driven by a pinion, n4, on the shaft h3.

When [t3 is revolved, an interrupted rotary motion will be imparted to the slotted piece l, and to impart this motion is the whole use of the contrivance, for which any other proper train of movements may be substituted. The parts are so proportioned that the slot stops for a time in line with and so as to make a continuation of one of the slots in the pan, and while it stops it will receive a load of screwblanks, they being forced into it by the action of the sweeps and by gravity. The slot then rotates to the next pan-slot in succession and rests again, and while resting receives another load, and so on in succession. And while the slot is in line with and making a continuation of one of the pan-slots, the open ends of the other pan-slots are ,closed bythe disk Z4, so

that no screw-blank can fall out of the pan until the receiving and distributin g apparatus s in position to receive them. affix the ratchet-wheel Z3 to the shaft by a friction-screw, so that the wheel may slip in the event of a blank catching half-way inthe slot of the distributer, or in lieu of this I bevel the end of the impelling-pawl so that it may I prefer to slip od" the ratchet-teeth in case the distribu- Y ter jams or sticks fast. A ring, o, secured to the frame, surrounds the hollow shaft, and from the inside of this ring lead a series of slots, o o', which are con-v tinued through ways p p. These ways lead When screw-blanks are lodged in the slot Z,

they are prevented from falling out of it by the ring or curb o but when the slot l is so turned that the slots o are in line with it, then screw-blanks are delivered bythe slot l into the ways leading to the various machines. The receiving and distributing apparatus may have an oscillating in place of a rotating moi tion, and it will sometimes be most convenient to give it such motion when combined with arranging apparatus different from that herein described, and in such case the ways that forward the screws from the distributing apparatus to the machine must be arranged to suit the shape and motion of the receiving and distributing apparatus.

Vhen used with some kinds of arranging Y apparatus, I intend to impart a rectilinear reciprocating motion to the distributing apparatus, and I wish it to be distinctly under-.-

stood that one part of my invention is based upon the idea of supplying several machines by the use of a single arranging apparatus, when combined with a distributing apparatus and several forwardingways, and that this part of my invention does not consist 'in the i use of any special arranging apparatus, or any special distributing apparatus, or any special arrangement of forwarding-ways, but that any known or proper arranging or rcceiving and distributing apparatus may be used so long as they are combined with forwarding-ways in the manner and under a mode of operation substantially as herein described, so that thecombination arranges screw or similar blanks,ldistributes them to ways, and forwards them by a series or set of ways to several machines proper for performing useful operations on such blanks.

As it is sometimes necessary to prevent screws passing to some one machine, I arrange in the forwardingways gates or shutters q, which are simply a piece of metal hinged upon the Ways and provided with a tongue to enter and close the slots. When these gates are raised, screw-blanks pass under them. When shut down, they arrest the row above them, and the distributing contrivance passes the top of the ways where the gate is shut without introducing blanks, because the row of blanks in the distributing contrivanceis held back by the blanks above the gate. A wedge, slide, pin, or similar coutrivance may be substituted for the hinged gates described.

Having thus set forth my invention, embodied in a practical form, I wish it also to be understood that I have devised other arranging apparatus, for which application for patents are made, and that I intend to use such apparatus in combination with the re= ceiving and delivering apparatus .and series of ways herein described, and I claim as of my own invention in this patentl. The combination of a pan having the distinguishing characteristics substantially as specified, with revolving sweeps, operating substantially as described.

2. The combination of a pan and sweeps constituting an arranging apparatus, operating substantially as set forth, with a receiving and distributing apparatus having a mode of operation substantially as herein described.

3. The combination of a set or series of inclined forwarding-ways with a receiving and distributing apparatus, the combination operating substantially as described.

4. An arranging mechanism for arranging screw-blanks in rows, in combination with a distributing apparatus and a set or series of forwardingways, when the combination operates substantially as described, whereby a single arranging apparatus can arrange blanks and forward them to several machines performing useful operations on the blanksforwarded by said ways.

` H. A. HARVEY.

I n presence of- JAs. S. WIGHTMAN, P. JAMES GAGE. 

